Daksha Baxi and Surajkumar Shetty of Khaitan & Co analyse a decision from the Authority for Advance Rulings which ruled that the cross-charge of salary cost under a secondment arrangement represent fees for included services and so warrants withholding tax.

The Indian government is rumoured to have changed tack on its structuring of the upcoming advance pricing arrangement (APA) programme. Taxpayers expected a unilateral APA to be incorporated into the Direct Taxes Code in 2012 but officials could be bending to arguments from lobbyists that this way of establishing certainty about transfer pricing would be arbitrary. Sophie Ashley takes a fresh look at the APA process and considers the pros and cons to unilateral and bilateral APAs.

The Supreme Court of India is getting serious about fighting tax abuse. Erin Kelechava investigates why the court is so concerned that the government has not been working quickly enough to combat the problem, despite new initiatives, legislation and international agreements.

With fears that the implementation of the Direct Taxes Code next year will lead to an unprecedented number of tax disputes, Matthew Gilleard speaks to the country’s leading tax disputes advisers to discuss the issues they are facing and how they overcome them.

The OECD and India have been cooperating since 1995 and became an official observer in 2008. But in June the two signed an agreement to broaden tax cooperation over the next three years. Many see this as the final stage before becoming a full member. Jack Grocott looks at India’s tax system to see why it is not ready to take the next step and join the OECD.

As India prepares for the most substantial shake-up to its tax system in 50 years, Salman Shaheen investigates the progress of tax policy there and why the US Secretary of State thinks it needs to be accelerated with the aid of the OECD.

The last couple of years have witnessed a radical change in the Indian tax controversy landscape. Issues, which one would have thought are beyond the horizon a few years back, now occupy the most prominent space in the Indian tax controversy expanse. One such recent emergence is that of taxation of offshore transfer of shares of an overseas company. Arun Chhabra & Nidhi Gupta of Walker, Chandiok & Co investigate.

A failure on the part of Indian pharmaceutical companies to keep their pricing policies in sync with the arm’s-length standard is being used by the authorities for making transfer pricing adjustments in the sector. Milind Kothari and Gaurav Shah of MZS & Associates highlight the transfer pricing traps for the industry, with the aid of recent case law.

In India, businesses traditionally operate as incorporated companies, sole proprietorships and general partnerships. Each of these business structures has its own advantages and shortcomings and is subject to different regulatory and tax regimes. But as Pinakin Desai and Praful Poladia of Ernst & Young point out, with the government recently allowing foreign investment in limited liability partnerships (LLP), the LLP is now a attractive tool for doing business in India.

K Swaminathan of Lakshmi Kumaran & Sridharan asks the question, through the use of a case study, of what if an Indian company expanding its operations outside India wishes to license its trademark for no fee while at the same time analysing the associated risks and benefits.

Rohan Phatarphekar of KPMG and Akash Arora of BSR & Co explain how taxpayers can ring-fence their tax liabilities under India’s pending general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) by the effective use of various transfer pricing tools.

In the second of a regular series, Rahul Garg, Shailesh Monani, Deepak Mahurkar and Chandresh Bhimani of PwC highlight the key challenges taxpayers face in key Indian industries. In this issue, the authors analyse the tax hurdles and opportunities in the oil and gas sector.